Cost: $50 for the general public and $25 for non-UNT university and college

students. UNT students will attend for free. Tickets must be purchased by Sept. 8 (Monday)

Contact: Lisa Wallace, director of development for the College of Merchandising, Hospitality and Tourism, at 940-369-7051 or Lisa.Wallace@unt.edu.

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- If you need a filling for a cavity, but you don't regularly visit a dentist or need a dentist in a hurry, would you visit a dental clinic providing eight basic services that each cost $99 -- no appointment or insurance necessary?

Geoffrey M. Rappaport, co-founder of the hair salon franchise Supercuts, will discuss how he is applying the Supercuts business model to dental care during the Executive + Scholar Lecture Series for 2014-15 at the University of North Texas Sept. 10 (Wednesday). He will be joined by Soo-kyoung Ahn, a visiting research scholar in UNT's Global Digital Retailing Research Center, which is presenting the lecture series.

Rappaport's and Ahn's presentation, "The Creative Attitude," is scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon in the ballroom of UNT's Gateway Center, which is located at 801 North Texas Blvd. The cost is $50 for the general public and $25 for non-UNT college and university students. UNT students will attend for free. To purchase tickets, contact Lisa Wallace, director of development for the College of Merchandising, Hospitality and Tourism, at 940-369-7051 or Lisa.Wallace@unt.edu. The deadline for reserving tickets is Sept. 8 (Monday).

The Global Digital Retailing Research Center, located in UNT's College of Merchandising, Hospitality and Tourism, was established during the spring semester in 2013. The center provides professionals in the retail, hospitality management, technology and other industries focused on investment in digital retailing with research and expertise from UNT faculty, other global scholars and industry leaders. It is the first center in the U.S. focusing only on digital retailing.

The center organized the inaugural Executive + Scholar Lecture Series in September 2013. Richard Last, UNT senior lecturer of merchandising and digital retailing and senior director of the Global Digital Retailing Research Center, said the series "enables UNT students and faculty to hear from true industry leaders with a particular passion, combined with a scholar who has performed rigorous research in that same area of passion."

Rappaport is "passionate about the creative mind, and the intersection of creativity and innovation in the digital age," Last said, adding that the college is fortunate to have Ahn "join Geoffrey in this creativity journey."

Kip Tindell, chairman and chief executive officer of The Container Store since the Dallas-based retailer began in 1978, speaking Feb. 4 (Wednesday) on "Conscious Capitalism."

The scholars who will be presenting with Nordstrom and Tindell will be announced later.

Rappaport co-founded Supercuts in 1975 in Albany, California, and served as the company's president until he sold it in 1987. Today, the chain, which has more than 2,300 locations, is owned by Regis Corp. Rappaport is still the owner and operator of the first Supercuts store in Albany.

From 1975-1987, Rappaport was president of Emra Advertising, the in-house advertising agency for Supercuts. In 2002, he founded Superteeth, a primary care dentistry and oral health clinic that offers eight basic services, in Warren, Michigan. He plans to launch the brand nationwide under the name Great Teeth. As with Supercuts, patrons of Great Teeth don't need appointments, and may pay out of pocket if they don't have insurance.

Rappaport has served as a consultant for businesses in Europe and Japan as well as the U.S., and has been a guest lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, Stanford University and Yale University.

Ahn became the first visiting research scholar in the Global Digital Retailing Research Center in the summer of 2013. She was previously a research professor at ChangWon National University in Korea. Ahn has extensive experience in the fashion industry, serving as a designer at the global apparel company Vivien Inc., and working in material development and marketing for Dillard's, Donna Karan Intimate, Maidenform, Victoria's Secret and the German department store Karstadt Quelle. She designed Maidenform's "One Fabulous Fit" bra, which was the top selling garment in U.S. department stores in 2002 and 2003.

Ahn recently completed the first white paper of the Global Digital Retailing Research Center, "The Paradigm Shifts of Consumer Experience." It will be published on the center's website.